There is a tendency to think of Emilio Bonifacio as a minor part of the trade with Miami that remastered the Blue Jay lineup but make no mistake: he was a target.

GM Alex Anthopoulos coveted Bonifacio’s speed and his versatility and his new teammates expect big things.

“With Bonifacio we’re basically going to have a second leadoff guy,” said Jose Bautista. “If you look at his career stats, in percentages they’re pretty similar to Jose (Reyes) with stolen bases and getting on base. He might strike out a little bit more but if he ends up being the starter and he hits ninth, that nine, one, two combination, even without getting hits, tough ground balls, high choppers, hit and runs, bunts, they can create some havoc without even having to hit the ball in the gaps or get some hard base hits.

“That can actually get you excited too because you see a pitcher when they’re dealing and you have three guys in a row that can bunt, get jammed and beat out a ground ball, and also hit a high chopper and get a base hit, that’s not bad either.”

Bonifacio arrived in camp yesterday, ready to duke it out with Maicer Izturis for the second base job but just thrilled to be able to be part of a competitive outfit like this.

“It’s really exciting, especially with the team we’re going to have here,” he said. “I think it’s going to be a fun year.”

Bonifacio can play anywhere on the infield or the outfield.

“Anywhere,” he said. “As long as I’m there helping the team I’m happy with that.”

BUEHRLE CAN'T WORK VARIOUS GEARS

As noted on Friday, Mark Buehrle is one of the quickest workers — maybe THE quickest worker — in all of baseball.

Saturday, he was asked what his fastest game was and without missing a beat, Buehrle said “Seattle, versus Ryan Franklin, 1 hour, 39 minutes.”

Buehrle’s White Sox beat the Mariners 2-1 that day in April of 2005 and nobody except Ichiro Suzuki had a hit for Seattle. But Ichiro had three of them.

“After the last one, I just tipped my cap to him,” laughed Buehrle.

He says it doesn’t bother him when hitters try to slow down his pace by stepping out.

“If they really want to get under my skin, I hate it when guys just stay dug in between pitches and dare me to throw it as quickly as I want. That’ll get me out of my rhythm, because I say, ‘OK you son of a gun, you wanna race, I’ll race you.”